Second ‘bikini-clad’ coke mule Melina Roberge, sobs in court – The Canadian ‘Sugarbabe’ is accused of smuggling $31 million of cocaine with porn star, Isabelle Lagacé, into Australia

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Canadian woman Melina Roberge sobbed in court as she was sent on trial

Accused of smuggling 95kg of cocaine with porn star Isabelle Lagacé, 28, and Melina Roberge, 23, on a round-the-world cruise.

Australian authorities caught the pair with $30 million worth of cocaine in suitcases stashed in cabins occupied by the pair and their travelling companion, 64-year-old French Canadian, Andre Tamine

The two women shared a cabin for 39 days and Tamine occupied a cabin next to theirs

While Lagacé has pled guilty to drug smuggling charges, Roberge pled not guilty, insisting she was unaware of the drugs being in there

Tamine is scheduled for trial early in 2017

Mélina Roberge has thrown her friend and travelling companion to the wolves

The second Canadian woman accused in a plot to import a massive volume of high grade cocaine into Australia put up a show of weeping in a Sydney court room on Wednesday.

23-year-old Mélina Roberge, accused of smuggling cocaine worth $30 million into Australia is to stand trial early next year. Roberge, sobbed loudly and wept in the dock of Central Local Court in Sydney, Australia, as Magistrate Robert Williams listed the reasons why he was sending her to trial.
Evidence given during a committal hearing for weeping accused ‘drug courier’ alleges that she was a knowing participant in the attempt to import the huge quantity of cocaine into Australia in August this year.
Meanwhile, all three suspects who were charged in Australia with drug smuggling were denied bail after making a court appearance in Sydney on the same day.
Andre Tamine, 64, IsabelleLagacé, 28, and Melina Roberge, 23, were arrested in late August after the MS Sea Princess, operated by California-based Princess Cruises, berthed in Sydney, Australian.

The twin high rollers lived it up before the fateful stopover in Australia

Mélina Roberge, claims the case against her is at best circumstantial – has pled not guilty to commercial drug importation charges

Megabust: Almost a ton of ‘coke’ in the ir suitcases, worth almost $31 million, Australian authorities say

Roberge and former porn star pal IsabelleLagacé, shared a cabin while travelling around the world and functioning as drug mules. The women allegedly, ferried “commercial quantities” of the Class A drug before being detained in Sydney in August.

Australian police also arrested their travelling companion, a French Canadian, 64-year-old Andre Tamine. The two girls shared Cabin P312 on board the Sea Princess for 39 days while Mr Tamine occupied cabin C537.

Canadian women Mélina Roberge is on trial in Sidney as part of a 7-man ring that tried to import almost a ton of cocaine into Australia aboard a cruise ship

Like peas in a pod: Once inseperable, now Roberge (left) claims Lagacé (right), was out on her own in the drug trade

Former friends Melina Roberge and Isabelle Lagacé, joined forces to globe trot and live it up

A total of 95kg of high grade cocaine was allegedly found in suitcases in both cabins, with 29kg in a suitcase in the cabin shared by the two women.

“It is clear there was a large quantity of the substance which appeared to be in safekeeping in the room shared by Lagacé and Roberge,” Mr Williams told the court.
“It is highly improbable that a person other than the defendant Roberge or Lagacé would have stored the items in the suitcase under the bed.
“The cabin space was tiny. The suitcase was reasonably large. All other suitcases in the cabin were emptied.
“It is also clear that Roberge and Lagacé shared the cabin for at least 39 days.”

Summing up the circumstances of the case presiding magistrate, Robert Williams noted that Roberge and the other two defendants had booked their tickets for the Sea Princess cruise within a day of each other, using the same travel agency.
The two women who both embarked on the ship on July 20, shared an email address, as well as, their emergency contacts for the booking.
William further said the CCTV footage of the ship’s arrival and departures in port showed Roberge and Lagacé returning to the ship together, in the company of Andre Tamine.
The suitcases allegedly found with cocaine in both cabins were similar in weight.The drug which was of a similar level of purity, was similarly packaged in ziplock bags and taped with packing tape which was found in the women’s cabin.
Mr Williams asked Roberge to stand up in court as he asked her three questions as to whether she wanted to give any evidence in relation to the charge against her of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
Weeping loudly, Roberge said “no” three times.
She continued to sob as Mr Williams committed her to stand trial on February 3 for the alleged drug importation.

Roberge’s partner in crime Isabelle Lagacé could receive a life sentence

Fascinating details of the drug importation, which was Australia’s largest by passenger vessel, emerged in Central Local Court last week.
Sydney Police seize 95 kgs of cocaine, three Canadians arrested on a cruise ship.
Though Roberge and Lagacé made world headlines after it emerged that they had posted images of the exotic stops on their lavish world cruise on Instagram in the weeks before their dramatic arrest, quite literally depicting themselves as inseparable.
The legal defense has split the two friends as lawyers for Roberge previously argued that she was unaware of the cocaine importation and had spent 40 days sharing the cabin with Lagacé not knowing what was in the suitcase.

The court documents state that seven members of the cocaine drug cartel were aboard the Sea Princess as it cruised from New York via Tahiti to Sydney carrying 95kg of cocaine.
Crown prosecutor Lincoln Crowley alleged that the two glamorous young Canadian women were an integral part of this “floating warehouse” of drugs, having secreted 29kg of it in a suitcase in their tiny shared cabin.
Along with their co-accused, Andre Tamine, four men who were part of the alleged drug operation were also on board the cruise ship in cabins 706 and 715 as the ship sailed towards Australia.

Attorneys for Mélina Roberge (seen aboard the cruise liner) are striving to put some distance between her and her travelling companions in the commission of the drug smuggling crime

However, defense attorney Ragni Mathur argued that Roberge was unaware of the cocaine in her friend Lagacé’s luggage. Roberge had booked her ticket for the trip with another man who was not associated with the criminal enterprise behind the drug deal, Mathur said. Highlighting the fact that both Lagacé and Tamine had booked their cruise together, while client booked separately
Ms Mathur said that Roberge should escape being committed for trial because she was only guilty by her association with Lagacé. She stated that CCTV footage of Roberge embarking and disembarking the Sea Princess shows she had “nothing in her possession except a wallet or mobile phone”.

Gadfly: Roberge getting a tattoo in French Polynesia with the caption #dumbanddumber

Mélina Roberge, (left) and Isabelle Lagacé, (right) were arrested on suspicion of smuggling $30 million (US$23 million) worth of cocaine into Australia

Before it alll came crashing down, Mélina Roberge flaunts her sneakers and passport aboard the cruise ship – posted on Instagram

Whereas Lagacé, who carried both an iPhone and BlackBerry and had admitted at one point that she owned the suitcase in which cocaine was later found. Ms Mathur insisted that despite the fact that Roberge was friends with her travelling companion, that did not mean she knew about the cocaine enterprise.
“You don’t need two chickens to keep warm a golden egg,” she said.

1 Comment on Second ‘bikini-clad’ coke mule Melina Roberge, sobs in court – The Canadian ‘Sugarbabe’ is accused of smuggling $31 million of cocaine with porn star, Isabelle Lagacé, into Australia

I’m guessing both their prints and DNA are on those suitcases. With their looks and lack of morality they could have made big bucks in many other ways. Bad and stupid. Their only hope now for a reduced sentence – maybe 15 years or so -is to tell everything they know to the Australian police.